Uvalde elementary school teacher claimed that Salvador Ramos gunman’scared’ her. He began dressing up as a school shooter during the three months preceding the massacre.
During a Texas State Senate hearing investigating the response to the shooting, director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, Col. Steve McCraw, said that after the shooting at least six individuals told him Ramos had worried them.
McCraw claimed that Ramos’ worries were only expressed to him following the shooting and no prior reports regarding Ramos.
Ramos’s troubling behavior was known to be well known in this tiny town of 17,000. He also pointed out footage that showed the shooter carrying a bag with dead cats and was shared online.
McCraw suggested that Ramos might have chosen to shoot because of the instant popularity and exposure provided by social media.
Don McLaughlin of Uvalde announced that Wednesday night, the Robb Elementary school where the shooting occurred will be torn down.
Salvador Ramos, 18. A Uvalde teacher told Texas Department of Public Safety director Col. Steve McCraw that Ramos had begun ‘dressing like school shooter’ before the massacre
Col. Steve McCraw, Texas Department of Public Safety Director, speaks at the Texas State Senate Hearing investigating the state of Texas’ response to Tuesday’s shooting.
Don McLaughlin, mayor of Uvalde, announced Wednesday night that Robb Elementary School was being demolished.
McCraw claimed that he has interviewed approximately 500-700 people for the ongoing investigation of the shooting on May 24th that resulted in 19 deaths and 2 injuries to teachers.
McCraw told the Texas Senate hearing that a teacher told him that Ramos, 18, ‘was the student who scared her the most,’ and that he had started ‘dressing like a mass shooter’ before the attack.
“How many times were they able to tell you they worried about him in all of these interviews?” McCraw was asked by Paul Bettencourt, a Texas senator.
‘Several times. McCraw replied, “He was the student that scared me most.” As I said earlier, he began dressing up as a school shooter last year.
Bettencourt called Ramos carrying a bag with dead cats as animal abuse and abhorrent. Bettencourt stated that Ramos’ behavior and fears had not been reported to him.
A photograph taken inside the school shows Arredondo’s men in uniform doing nothing during the massacre. This raises questions about why the cops haven’t stormed the classroom sooner.
McCraw claimed that he had interviewed approximately 500 to 700 people in his investigations of the shooting.
McCraw stated that Ramos was not mentioned in any reports, even though he had been told by several people they were concerned.
Senator Charles Perry asked McCraw what his thoughts were on Ramos’ need for fame and whether social media access might have motivated him to take action.
‘You mentioned a couple of times notoriety — let me ask it this way regarding social media. This plays into the human condition, specifically for men, of wanting to make a mark and be recognized, having a purpose, being able to do something. Perry explained that it can have good and bad consequences.
Do you feel the platform has a social media element? It’s only relevant for 30 years. It’s 60 years old. There were people in our community who felt mistreated, treated unfairly or faced other issues. They didn’t have an online platform.
‘Do you think that the idea that this guy knew the minute he pulled the trigger that he just got notoriety on a worldwide basis that will live unfortunately into perpetuity?’
McCraw stated, “Absolutely.”
«You think it influences the psyche?” asked Perry. Perry asked Perry.
McCraw claimed that McCraw’s statements would support this assertion.
Students fled the Robb Elementary School after the mass shooting, while Ramos was still in the building on May 24,
McCraw was the latest person to blame the botched response of Pete Arredondo, the district police chief (above), during the hearing
McCraw also criticised police. Respondent to the attack as “an abject failure” and stated that the police had enough officers on the spot to arrest the gunman within three minutes.
McCraw informed the committee that three minutes had passed since the subject entered west hallway. There were enough officers in body armor to neutralize and isolate the subject. He also reviewed the chronology of tragic events.
The assertion saw McCraw become the latest to lay blame on the botched response on district police chief Pete Arredondo, who reportedly commanded cops on the scene to stay put and not confront gunman Salvadaor Ramos after the teen barricaded himself inside a filled fourth-grade classroom at Robb Elementary.
McCraw reported that he spoke with numerous people who were aware of footage of Ramos holding a bag of dead cats that was posted online
McCraw made a harsh speech claiming that the chief of the district had ‘decided not to put the lives and safety of the children before those of the officers’
McCraw stated that the only thing that prevented a corridor of dedicated officers entering rooms 111 and 112 were the commanders on the scene, who chose to put the lives first of the children. McCraw stated that the officers were armed with weapons while children had no such weapon. The officers had body armour, while the children did not.
McCraw said that Robb Elementary attack was a failure of law enforcement and is antithetical to what we know over the past two decades.
McCraw also revealed that Ramos was not safe from the entrance to his classroom. This contradicts earlier statements made by Arredondo’s Department that Ramos was frantically trying to escape. It took over an hour to locate the keys to unlock the doors of fourth-grade classrooms.